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Eastern Shale Gas Monitoring Program

Goals

Central Appalachia’s coldwater streams are still struggling from century-old impacts from past energy development. This, coupled with urbanization and other land management issues, has left us with few intact and healthy wild and native trout watersheds. What is left of healthy trout habitat lies largely in areas with underlying shale gas deposits or areas being targeted for pipeline development.

With increased shale gas and pipeline development, trout watersheds in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia must be protected from ecological and environmental harm. Potential impacts to coldwater resources include sedimentation, habitat alteration, chemical spillage and major water withdrawals.

Developing and transporting shale gas requires the clearing of an extensive amount of land for well pads, access roads and pipelines. In Appalachia’s notoriously rugged and wet terrain, the clearing of this land can lead to erosion and sedimentation issues if proper best management practices are not required and followed.

Shale gas wastewater must be properly handled, transported and disposed of in order to protect nearby streams from pollution.

The Eastern Shale Gas Monitoring Program engages citizen scientists as the eyes and ears on the ground to identify and limit the potential impacts of shale gas development on coldwater streams. Through our Pennsylvania Coldwater Conservation Corps and W. Va/Va. Water Quality Monitoring Project, TU and our partners are engaging, training, equipping and supporting volunteers to monitor their local coldwater streams for impacts from shale gas and pipeline development.

Volunteers have identified pollutions events as a result of shale gas development and notified the appropriate authorities. This has resulted in pollution issues being swiftly addressed, limiting damage to the aquatic ecosystem.